merchant

Word family

Related topics: Trade

mer·chant /ˈmɜːtʃənt $ ˈmɜːr-/ noun [countableC]

1 wine/coal/timber etc merchant someone whose job is to buy and sell wine, coal etc, or a small company that does this 葡萄酒商/煤炭商/木材商等

He had a job with an Edinburgh wine merchant.

他在爱丁堡的一个葡萄酒商那里做过事。

Examples from the Corpus

wine/coal/timber etc merchant• The 13 coal merchants and some of the 12 corn and seed merchants no doubt operated from the wharf.• The worst was a coal merchant.• Consumers should go there only with guidance from a capable wine merchant or reviewer.• Whigham's Wine Cellar Attached to the famous wine merchants.• Take time to shop around; get to know your local wine merchant or investigate your local supermarket.• Branches of timber merchants, such as W H Newson, stock a range of hardwood mouldings for you to put up yourself.• Other services provided by Co-operative societies include undertakers, coal merchants and opticians.

2 BBT old-fashioned someone who buys and sells goods in large quantities 商人；批发商

the son of a wealthy merchant

一名富商的儿子

3. con merchant/speed merchant etc British EnglishBrE informalBAD BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONS someone who is involved in a particular activity, such as tricking people or driving very fast 骗子/喜欢开快车的人等

Examples from the Corpus

merchant• Merchants say sales have not been affected by the road repairs.• Its name comes from Philip Fenton, a merchant who owned it during its second century.• He appears among merchants as a merchant, among princes as a prince; even among insects as an insect.• an international arms merchant• Downtown merchants are stocking up for the Christmas shopping season.• These steps into new territory were too big and too risky to be undertaken by individual merchants.• Local merchants have had trouble with vandals breaking windows.• She was born in 1432, the daughter of a wealthy London merchant.• Several of them were the sons of merchants, some prosperous, some small, two ruined.• The merchant, the client, had willingly stooped into the dungeon of lust.• Also patron of job-related stress and wine merchants.

From Longman Business Dictionary

merchantmer·chant /ˈmɜːtʃəntˈmɜːr-/ noun [countableC]COMMERCE

1a person or organization that buys and sells goods or a particular type of goods

US tobacco merchants are depending more and more on international sales.

wine merchants and distributors

→ mass merchant → retail merchant

2used by CREDIT CARD companies to talk about the shops etc that accept their cards

Today, over 18 million merchants accept Visa.

Origin merchant

(1100-1200) Old French marcheant, from Latin mercatus, past participle of mercari “to buy and sell”

mer·chant noun

Chinese